Cancer sufferers could have a cheaper alternative to conventional treatment with fewer side effects if a drug trial by Canberra researchers is successful.
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The trial will begin in January on 15 patients who are currently in remission from a rare type of blood cancer called myeloma.
But Dr Anneke Blackburn, cancer metabolism and genetics group leader at the Australian National University's John Curtin School of Medical Research, said it could be used for other cancers including breast cancer.
The clinical trial at the Canberra Hospital will use dichloroacetate (DCA), an inexpensive, non-toxic drug used to treat patients with metabolic disorders.
The drug targets the way cancer cells use sugar differently from normal cells and makes it harder for them to make the building blocks they need to divide and multiple, Dr Blackburn said.
"DCA won't kill the cancer cells but it will slow down their growth," she said.
"It also means they're a lot more sensitive to other drugs. We've been able to show it's quite effective in the models at the lab."
Dr Blackburn said DCA could allow cancer patients to reduce their dosage of normal cancer drugs - avoiding side effects such as hair loss and immune suppression.
"[DCA] has very few side effects - the main side effect is numbing in the fingers and toes, and that goes away when people stop taking it," she said.
"There is potential for it to be used on its own, perhaps in some patients where you need to manage the tumour rather than get rid of it like elderly patients, who are two frail for normal drugs."
Myeloma patients were chosen for the drug trial because the results could be easily measured within three months with blood tests.
If it is successful on the patients in remission it will be trialled on those with a higher level of the disease before it is expanded into other cancer types.
Dr Blackburn said researchers were also interested in the drug's effect at stopping cancer cells spreading through the body and becoming drug-resistant.
The DCA trial is in collaboration with Dr James D'Rozario and others in the haematology department at the Canberra Hospital, alongside ongoing laboratory studies at John Curtin.
On Monday night, Dr Blackburn was presented with the 2014 John James Foundation Tony Ayers Prize for Excellence in Research in Translational Medicine for her work.
